Spot Privacy Policy

Spot helps you focus by blocking the apps you choose while a focus session is running. Spot is built to collect as little as possible: there are no advertising SDKs, no analytics SDKs and no third-party tracking. Without an account, everything stays on your iPhone. If you sign in, a limited set of data is stored in Google Firebase so that you can back up your focus history and take part in the Community features.

This policy applies to Spot beta builds distributed through TestFlight and to public releases of the app.

Who is responsible

The controller for the processing described here is Fabio Schmickl, reachable at schmickl.fabio@gmail.com. Use this address for any privacy question, access request or deletion request.

Information stored on your device

Spot stores the following information locally on your iPhone:

• Focus session history: start time, end time, mode, duration, how the session ended and the number of blocked items.
• Session reviews: rating, skipped state, timestamps and notes you choose to write.
• Routines and preferences: default mode, timer duration, routine times and repeat settings, appearance, app icon and similar settings.
• The app, category and website selection that Apple's FamilyControls and ManagedSettings frameworks need to block what you chose. Spot only receives opaque tokens from Apple, not app names.
• The identifier of the NFC tag you paired with Spot, so that only your own Spot tag can start or end a session.
• Temporary session state used to recover an active session after the app is closed, and the schedule for timer expiry.
• Optional categories you pick for a session share card, and a fixed random shape for your personal tree on that card.
• If you enable Developer Mode: a technical event journal (session lifecycle, shield applications, restore decisions) with at most 500 entries. It contains no app names, notes or personal data and is only exported when you share it yourself.

Delete data in Settings removes your focus history, reviews, routines, share-card choices and the diagnostics journal from the device. Your app selection, the paired Spot tag and your preferences stay until you reset them in the app or uninstall Spot, which removes everything.

Screen Time, FamilyControls and app blocking

Spot uses Apple's FamilyControls, ManagedSettings and DeviceActivity frameworks after you grant Screen Time permission. These frameworks let you pick apps, categories or websites to block during a focus session and let Spot end a timer session on time in the background. Spot does not upload the names, bundle identifiers, tokens or identities of the apps you select.

During the introduction, Spot can show how much time you spend in the apps you selected. These numbers are computed and rendered by Apple's Screen Time report extension inside a sandbox that Apple controls. The Spot app itself never receives your usage minutes, and they are never sent to Spot's servers or to Firebase. The projection over a lifetime uses a fixed assumption of 85 years; Spot does not ask for your age or birth date.

NFC

NFC scans start or end a focus session. The first scan pairs one tag with your device, and later scans are compared with that tag locally. The tag identifier is never part of the Community data.

A genuine Spot contains an NTAG 424 DNA chip. When you pair it, Spot sends the chip's serial number (UID), its read counter and a cryptographic checksum produced by the chip to our servers once, so the chip can be verified and tied to your account (chips/<uid> in Cloud Firestore). If you have no account yet, Spot creates an anonymous guest account for this purpose; you can link Sign in with Apple to it later. Everyday scans that lock or unlock your apps are checked on your device and do not contact our servers. Tapping a Spot with any phone opens a verification page that only confirms whether the chip is genuine and shows its tap number; it never reveals who owns it.

Notifications, Live Activities and background tasks

With your permission Spot schedules local notifications so that a timer session ends on time, and it can show the running session as a Live Activity on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. These features run on your device only.

Account and cloud features

Signing in is optional. Spot uses Firebase Authentication for accounts and Cloud Firestore and Cloud Functions for cloud data. Firestore and Cloud Functions run in the EU region europe-west3 (Frankfurt, Germany).

Account

• Your account identifier and the e-mail address you sign in with, or the identity Apple provides through Sign in with Apple. If you use Apple's Hide My Email, Spot only receives a relay address.
• Your chosen display name and, if you add one, a profile picture (compressed to at most 64 KiB).
• If you pair a genuine Spot without signing in, Spot creates an anonymous guest account that holds only an account identifier. It is deleted when you sign out of it or delete your account.

Spot chip

• The serial number (UID) of the Spot you paired, the time it was claimed and its tap counter, stored with your account so the chip can only belong to one account at a time.
• If you release your Spot, a hashed release code valid for 30 days, so the next owner can claim it.

Focus backup

• Completed focus sessions: session identifier, start and end time, mode, duration, how the session ended and the number of blocked items.
• Session reviews: rating, note, skipped state and creation time.
• Sync metadata such as schema version and last sync time.

Emergency unlock

• How many emergency unlocks you used in the current calendar month and a record of each use (request identifier, session identifier and time), so the monthly limit holds across your devices.
• If you are in a team, the team sees a system message with your display name and the time of the emergency unlock. The session identifier, the remaining quota and your app selection stay private.

Community

• Teams you create or join: team name, invite code, your role and membership, and an optional team picture (at most 64 KiB).
• Aggregated focus values shared with your team: weekly and all-time focus minutes and session counts, your current streak, whether you are focusing right now and the trophies the server has verified from your synced sessions.
• Chat messages you send to a team, including optional photos (compressed to at most 400 KiB).

Community data is visible only to members of the same team. Spot never shares which apps you block, your NFC tag, your usage minutes or your notes with a team.

What is never uploaded

FamilyControls selection tokens, selected app identities, Screen Time usage data, NFC identifiers, routines, advertising identifiers, contacts, photos other than the ones you pick for Community, messages outside Spot, and location data.

App integrity check (App Check)

To protect the cloud data of all users, requests from Spot to Firebase carry an App Attest token. Apple's App Attest confirms to Firebase that the request comes from a genuine, unmodified copy of Spot on a real iPhone. The token identifies the app installation, not you as a person.

Legal bases

• Providing the account, focus backup, emergency unlock and Community features you ask for: performance of a contract, Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR.
• Optional permissions such as Screen Time, notifications and the use of your photos: your consent, Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, which you can withdraw at any time in iOS Settings or inside the app.
• Protecting the service against abuse through App Check and Firebase security rules: legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

Processors and third-party services

If you install Spot through TestFlight, Apple may collect crash logs, diagnostics and the feedback you submit in the TestFlight app under Apple's own terms.

International transfers

Firestore and Cloud Functions store and process data in Frankfurt, Germany. Firebase Authentication and App Check are global Google services and may process data in the United States. These transfers rely on Google's Standard Contractual Clauses and Google's certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

Data retention and deletion

• Local data stays on your device until you delete it in the app or remove Spot.
• Delete data in Settings deletes your focus backup (sessions, reviews, sync metadata) from the cloud and the focus data listed above from the device. Your account, profile picture and Community data stay.
• Delete account in Settings deletes your account and all cloud data linked to it: focus backup, emergency unlock records, your profile, your memberships, the messages you sent and the teams you own, including pictures. Spot asks you to sign in again first and, for Sign in with Apple, revokes the Apple token.
• When a team owner deletes a team, all of its members, messages and pictures are deleted.
• Spot's database currently keeps no separate backups, so deleted cloud data is not restored from a copy later.
• Operational logs of the server functions (they record your account identifier and the operation, not your content) and hosting access logs are kept by Google Cloud for 30 days and then deleted automatically.

Your rights

You have the right to access, rectify and erase your personal data, to restrict or object to its processing, and to receive the data you provided in a portable format. Export my data in Settings gives you a JSON file with your account, focus backup, emergency unlock records and Community data. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. For any request, write to schmickl.fabio@gmail.com.

Your choices

• You can deny Screen Time permission, but app blocking will not work without it.
• You can use focus sessions without signing in. Cloud backup and Community need an account.
• You can stop cloud sync by signing out and remove cloud data with the deletion options above.
• You can withdraw notification, Live Activity and photo permissions in iOS Settings.

Tracking and advertising

Spot does not track you across apps or websites, does not sell your data and does not use your data for advertising. Spot does not use Apple's App Tracking Transparency framework because there is nothing to ask for.

Children

Spot is not directed to children. The app is intended for people who manage their own focus sessions.

Changes to this policy

This policy is updated when Spot changes. The date at the top shows the last revision. The current version is always available at this address and is linked from the app's Settings.

Contact

Fabio Schmickl — schmickl.fabio@gmail.com